Hearing device and monitoring system thereof

ABSTRACT

A system for monitoring the status and/or performance of one or more hearing devices is disclosed. The system comprises a number of access points configured to receive wireless signals transmitted by the hearing devices, wherein the access points are connected to a central unit communicatively connected to the Internet/cloud, wherein the system is configured to automatically monitor the status and/or performance of one or more parameter of the one or more hearing devices received by access points, wherein the monitored parameters are accessible from the central unit and/or from a cloud service.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional of copending application Ser. No.15/472,621, filed on Mar. 29, 2017, which claims priority under 35U.S.C. § 119(a) to Application No. 16162760.9, filed in Europe on Mar.30, 2016, all of which are hereby expressly incorporated by referenceinto the present application.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a monitoring system, which isconfigured to monitor the status and/or performance of one or morehearing devices in an environment. More particularly, the disclosurerelates to a system for monitoring health related parameters, whereinthe monitored parameters are accessible from a central unit and/or froma cloud service.

BACKGROUND

The increasing focus on health care monitoring and the generalperception of having a good life quality in view of the increasingaverage age amongst humans creates a series of different demands to thehealth care systems that at least to a degree assists elderly people inmaintaining a good quality of life.

With the expansion and developments of the internet andtelecommunication possibilities throughout the years the health caresystem has, started taking advantage of these communications means inorder to develop monitoring systems, which may aid a human in obtaininga good quality of life by self-monitoring. Such monitoring systems havebeen known to e.g. be implemented in auxiliary devices, such as mobilephones, where apps have been developed to monitor different health andperformance parameters of a person.

In care taking facilities, usually a series of elderly people are livingtogether and are to a degree dependent on the assistant of caretakingpersonal for gaining a good quality of life. The caretaking personal areoften pressed on time in view of the amount of patients (i.e. elderlypeople) living in the facility compared to the amount of personnel andresources of the facility. Accordingly, in order to assist thecaretaking personal in resource and time optimization, the caretakingpersonal may benefit from any information that may be collected directlyand automatically from the elderly people living in the facility.Furthermore, many elderly people wear health assistant devices, such ashearing aids, which requires maintenance, in the form of battery change,cleaning, dome changing etc. The elderly people wearing e.g. hearingdevices often have various levels of mobility, motor skills, mentalcapabilities and technical awareness. The understanding of e.g.batteries and their limitation, the need of changing them and theability to do so is not a given capability of all users. Accordingly,the basic maintenance of the instruments and accessories are incaretaking facilities, such as institutions, care centres, old people'shomes or hospitals, often the responsibility of caretaking personnel.

In view of the increasing demands on the health care system, andespecially the caretaking personal employed in caretaking institutions,there exist a need for a sufficient and high quality monitoring systemwhich allows for a continuously monitoring of residents of e.g. acaretaking facility as well as monitoring of their health assistingdevices.

At least an object is to have a desirable, high quality alternative wayto ensure the maintenance of auxiliary devices such as hearing devices,while providing for a monitoring of e.g. health parameters of elderlypeople in a caretaking facility. The present disclosure provides atleast a series of suggestions and alternatives on how to monitor one ormore hearing aids in an environment, so as to ease the maintenance andmonitoring of hearing aid parameters worn by different users in a largeenvironment, where the demand on resources on e.g. the caretakingpersonal is high.

SUMMARY

According to the disclosure, a monitoring system for monitoringparameters of one or more hearing devices, is provided for. The systemcomprises one or more hearing devices having one or more sensorsconfigured to perform measurements from said hearing device, and amemory configured to store a set of measurement parameters based on themeasurements measured by the sensors. The memory is furthermoreconfigured to store a set of performance parameters of the hearingdevice. In this way, the hearing device is configured to measure a setof health measurements by use of sensors and to store parameters relatedto the performance, such as battery status, feedback status, domeposition and so forth of the hearing device.

The hearing device is furthermore configured to transmit the storedperformance and/or measurement parameter through a wireless signal,wherein the monitoring furthermore comprises a number of access pointsconfigured to receive the transmitted stored performance and/ormeasurement parameters through said wireless signal wherein the numberof access points furthermore are configured to transmit the receivedperformance and/or measurement parameters to a central unit, whichcentral unit is configured to communicate with an Internet and/or acloud service, which enables the measured performance and/or measurementparameters to be shared between a facility having the access points andthe central unit and a remotely located facility, such as e.g. ahospital and/or an health clinic.

The central unit according to the monitoring system comprises aprocessing unit having a set of stored normal values representing eachof the one or more measurements and/or performance parameters, and theprocessing unit is configured to evaluate the received performanceand/or measurement parameters against the set of stored normal values into detect a deviation from the normal value, wherein when a deviation isdetected, the processing unit triggers the central unit to prompt analarm to a user of the monitoring system and/or to transmit anotification signal directly to the hearing device.

With such a monitoring system as defined herein, the caretakingpersonnel of a health care institution, such as hospitals, elderly home,nursery etc. is able to monitor a series of measured performance and/orsensor measurement parameters collected by a number of hearing device,without having to physically monitor the user of the hearing devicesbefore it is relevant. In this way, the control unit collectsmeasurements and enables the caretaking personal to optimize time andresources in view of maintenances, health monitoring etc. used forassisting humans in gaining a better life quality. That is, themonitoring system informs the caretaking personnel about deviationsarising in a hearing device users measurements allowing the personnel totake action when it is relevant. In this way, unnecessary actions areavoided, while at the same time, the necessary actions for assisting theelderly people during the needed times are enabled through this system.

With the control unit receiving, storing and evaluating the one or moremeasured performance and/or measurement parameters by communication witha series of access points in a facility, changes in e.g. measured healthrelated issues (i.e. measured by the sensors) and/or performance changesof e.g. a hearing device may be monitored for each person wearing ahearing device in the facility at one unit.

Furthermore, with the monitoring system it is possible to provide asystem by which it is possible to ensure that the maintenance of hearingdevices and their accessories is carried out as scheduled. That is, thestatus and/or different parameters, for example measured by one or morehearing devices, are communicated to a series of access points of thesystem. The access points communicatively transmit data of the currentstatus of the hearing device to at least a central unit and/or a cloudbased solution, whereby the status may be monitored, checked and/orchanged by for example a hearing care professional or any other healthcare professional, which has access to the data.

This could for example be the caring professionals in an elderly home,which with the system according to the disclosure, would be able tomonitor, check and/or change the behaviour of the elderly residenthearing aids, or monitor the health parameters measured by the hearingaid.

The performance and/or measurement parameters of one or more hearingdevices may include any desirable parameter including the status and/orperformance of one or more parameters that can be measured by thehearing devices. Accordingly, such parameters may include measurementsmade by the hearing device(s) by means of one or more sensors. The oneor more sensors may be arranged at least in connection with the hearingdevices, such as for example being an integrated part of the hearingdevice and/or being in communication with one or more sensors placed ona body part of a user.

Such sensors could for example include electrodes, health sensors, skinsensors, accelerometers, antennas or any other kind of suitable sensorsfor monitoring different health parameters of a person.

The monitoring system comprises a number of access points configured toreceive wireless signals transmitted by the hearing devices. The accesspoints may be located in any suitable location in an environment inwhich a hearing aid user is situated. The access points may be providedas permanent installations in e.g. a health care institution aspreviously described.

The access points may preferably be connected to a central unitcommunicatively connected to the Internet/cloud. This may be achieved bymeans of wireless and/or wired connections. In this way, the datareceived by the access points may be stored in a cloud solution and/oron the internet, such that a remote access to the data may be achieved.This provides for the possibility of having a remote monitoring of thehearing device, such that for example a doctor or other hearing careprofessional is able to gain access to the data sent by the hearingdevices. The data sent by the hearing device would thus lead to thepossibility of a remote health monitoring of the person wearing thehearing device, and thereby aiding a care professional in diagnosing andcontrolling potential treatment of the hearing device wearer.

Access points may, due to their small size, be placed in publictransportation, at strategic locations in the public domain includingcultural venues, shopping malls, sport facilities, community centres andreligious sites. Accordingly, the system according to the disclosure canprovide a service in which hearing care professionals can help theircustomers remotely while the hearing device users are at home or movingabout on their own. The access point may similarly be placed in anursing home, whereby the care professional of the nursing home would beable to monitor the health status and/or the status of the differenthearing devices through the central unit, which receives data from eachof the hearing devices worn by a resident of the nursing home.

In an embodiment, the transmitted performance and/or measurementparameters are communicated to the central unit through at least twoaccess points. That is, the data (i.e. the performance and/ormeasurement parameters) is transferred through at least two accesspoints prior to reaching the central unit. In this way, the accesspoints forms a mesh network, which makes the infrastructure highlyscalable, because not all access points are required to be physicallyconnected directly to the network master (i.e. the central unit).Instead, access points can connect directly with other access pointswithin their range, and relay any message, information, status, measuredparameters etc. to other access points so that it eventually isdelivered from the hearing device to the network master, such as thecentral unit. In addition, the hearing devices themselves may be appliedas access points, and relay information from another hearing instrumentto a dedicated access point if it is without connection to a dedicatedaccess point itself. In this way the data transfer is reliably secured,such that if any access points in the mesh is not available, the datamay still be transferred in a secure and reliable manner to the centralunit, thereby maintaining the monitoring flow to the caretakingpersonnel.

The monitoring system is configured to automatically monitor measuredand/or performance parameters of the one or more hearing devicesreceived by access points and transferred to the central unit.

When transmitted to the central unit, the performance and/or measurementparameters comprises an identification parameter, wherein the centralunit is configured to receive the identification parameter and correlatethe received identification parameter with a set of identificationparameters stored in the central unit, so as to identify the hearingdevice of said transmitted parameters. In this way, an identificationparameter belonging to a resident of the health care facility may beused to store the measured parameters, such as health related parametersto the correct resident. That is, the central unit may contain adatabase with identification parameters belonging to each of theresidence, whereby the central unit is configured to store the incomingmeasurements from the hearing devices to the correct residents. In thisway the central unit automatically stores the data transmitted troughthe access point from the hearing devices.

The monitored parameters are accessible from the central unit and/orfrom a cloud service by means of any suitable communication connectionand communication devices. That is, the monitored data could be accessedthrough a computer, a phone, such as an iphone, an app or any othersuitable device at the health care institution and/or remotely fromthere.

Furthermore, in an embodiment, the number of access points is configuredto request a status from one or more hearing devices upon instructionstransmitted from said central unit and/or in a continuous, e.g.scheduled manner.

In this way it is ensured that the monitoring system continuouslyrequest data from the hearing devices of residents in the facility,whereby it is ensured that the caretaking personnel may always followthe status and any change to the parameters, which they should be awareof. Within the meaning of scheduled manner, should be understood, thatthe access point maybe be configured to request a status in accordancewith a given schedule, such as e.g. 3 times a day at certain times, etc.

In a further embodiment, the hearing devices may continuously transmitperformance and/or measurement parameters to said access points, whereinsaid access point is configured to store said performance and/ormeasurement parameter, such that upon request from said central unit,said performance and/or measurement parameters are transmitted to saidcentral unit.

In this way, the central unit may store the parameters upon request, forexample, when instructed by a caretaking personnel or in schedule manneras previously described.

According to the disclosure, the monitoring system is configured as aservice platform configured to be installed in a care centerenvironment, such as in a nursery, care centers and/or old people home,where the performance and/or measurement parameters may be monitored forseveral hearing devices at the same time through the central unit in astructured manner. This makes it possible to reduce the resources neededto plan, control and execute an appropriate level of service andmaintenance. The service platform may be based on any suitablecommunication technology, including “Bluetooth low energy” and hearingdevices configured to communicate by using “Bluetooth low energy”

Accordingly, in an embodiment, the monitoring system may be configuredsuch that the control unit upon a detected deviation in the transmittedone or more parameters of the one or more hearing device is configuredto automatically notify an external device, preferably an externaldevice of service personnel and/or a health professional.

It should be noted that in a preferred embodiment, the number of accesspoints are configured as a plurality of communication devices comprisinga battery electrically connected to a printed circuit board having anintegrated transmitter unit comprising a radio unit or an antenna fortransmission of wireless radio signals, and wherein the plurality ofcommunication devices are installed in e.g. a nursery, care centersand/old people's home.

The one or more access points may comprise a memory for storing thetransmitted performance and/or measurement parameters, until a requestfrom the central unit is received.

As already implied the monitoring system is thus configured to monitor aseries of different parameters of a hearing device. That is, themonitoring system may be configured to monitor one or more measurementparameters transmitted by the one or more hearing devices and includingstored measurements of one or more of: a blood sugar value, a heartrate, a temperature, an acceleration, a vibration, a blood pressure, askin conductance, an ultraviolet light exposure, a pH level, a bacterialevel, a humidity and/or an electrical activity of the brain of thehearing device user(s), wherein the performance parameters may includeone or more of a registration of: a battery status of the hearingdevices and/or a surroundings and/or a positioning.

Accordingly, a series of different applications of the system exists,which will be explained in more detail in relation to the figures.

An example with regards to the performance parameters of the hearingdevices includes that the system according to the disclosure may beconfigured to monitor the battery level remotely and report low powerlevel to the service provider, such as a nurse, care personnel, ahearing care professional, a doctor, etc. Accordingly, batterychange/replacement can be carried out in a scheduled manner by theservice provider so that less hearing device ‘downtime’ is experienced.

By applying a system according to the disclosure, it is possible toextend the battery lifetime by remotely controlling the powerscheduling.

By applying a system according to the disclosure, it is also possible toreduce the risk of injury for hearing device users with dementia due tothe system's capability of detecting hearing devices leaving a building.

Location-based or situation-based hearing device program choices can bepushed to the hearing device(s). Hereby, by applying a system accordingto the disclosure, it is possible to give relevant information relatedto locations or situations to the hearing device users. It is possibleto select any desired location, including locations as a TV lounge, adiner room, a movie theatre and relate such location to a predefinedinformation and/or program role.

From the caretaker's/service provider's perspective, the systemaccording to the disclosure solves several problems/challenges:

-   -   The system makes it possible to shift from status polling of        several hearing device users to a centralised, pushed status        from the service platform.    -   The system makes it possible to gather knowledge of battery        level in all hearing devices of the system.    -   The system makes it possible to report hearing device status of        all hearing devices of the system to the service provider.    -   The system makes it possible to shift from user interrupt based        service to proactively planned and executed service.    -   The system makes it possible to detect the location of the        hearing devices and thus the location of the users wearing the        hearing devices. This is a valuable tool in situations where        users (e.g. with dementia) get “lost”.    -   The system makes it possible to broadcast voice messages or        other types of notifications to the hearing device users when        needed.

It may be an advantage that the system according to the disclosure isconfigured to monitor the hearing device status and notify servicepersonnel in a nursing home or another relevant institution or building.It is preferred that the system according to the disclosure comprises aplurality of access points that are connected to a central unit.

It may be beneficial that the system according to the disclosurecomprises a plurality of access points arranged strategically around theproperty in such a manner that the access points are capable ofmonitoring the status of the hearing devices located within the range ofeach access point.

It may be an advantage that the access points are configured to requestthe status from the individual hearing device. This could for example bedone in a scheduled manner, such that data from the hearing devices arecollected for example in the evening, during sleep. The data may howeveralso be sent to the access point continuously during the day, while wornby the hearing device, e.g. hearing aid user.

The system according to the disclosure may be configured to generate analert in case that a hearing device user leaves a predefined area.

By way of example, if a demented hearing impaired patient at a nursinghome leaves the institution without informing the personal, the systemwill detect that the hearing device user leaves the predefined areawithin the nursing home. The system informs the personnel so that theycan react preventively.

The system according to the disclosure is configured to detect when thebattery in the user's hearing device is approaching a critical, lowlevel. The system informs the personnel in advance so that they canschedule the replacement of the user's battery into their daily routine,thus preventing unwanted dysfunctional hearing aid due to power loss.The system may similarly be configured to push a notification message tothe hearing aid user that the battery is low, and providing soundinstructions to change the battery.

The system according to the disclosure may be configured to detect whena hearing device user has lost the hearing device. Accordingly, by usingtriangulation or other relevant technology, the lost hearing device canbe found again. For this purpose, sensors detecting for example adjacentskin heat or other suitable measures could be used to detect theplacement or nonplacement of the hearing aid on the ear of a user.

According to the disclosure, the system may also comprise a plurality ofaccess points communicatively connected to the central unit.

Hereby, it is possible to provide a system that covers a large area andto detect the position of hearing devices all over the area.

According to the disclosure, the access points may be permanentinstallations, preferably permanent installations in and/or in closeproximity of a building.

Hereby, it is possible to apply the fixed position of the access pointsto determine the position of the hearing devices. Moreover, it ispossible to provide the access points with power through the mains.

Furthermore, according to the disclosure, the access points may beconfigured to be a movable/portable device. Hereby, it is possible tobuild up a system or increase the size of a system with movably/portableaccess points in case that a larger area is required to be covered or ifthe location of the access points is required to be changed frequently.

In addition, according to the disclosure, the signals transmitted by thehearing devices may include information of battery status of the hearingdevices and/or the blood sugar value, and/or the heart rate and/or thetemperature and/or the acceleration and/or the vibration and/or positionand/or the blood pressure and/or the skin conductance and/or theultraviolet light exposure and/or the pH level and/or the bacteria leveland/or the humidity and/or the electrical activity of the brain of thehearing device user(s) and/or the surroundings.

Hereby, it is possible to apply the system according to the disclosurefor a large range of purposes including health monitoring. This wouldespecially be suitable for monitoring diseases, scheduling medicineintake, storing health data for a doctor to evaluate further and soforth.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the system is configured to detectthe location of the hearing device user by using triangulation betweentwo or more, such as three access points.

According to a further embodiment of the disclosure, the system isconfigured to automatically notify an external device, preferably anexternal device of a service personal and/or a health professional.Hereby, the system is capable of being used to generate alerts orprovide useful information to relevant personnel.

According to yet another embodiment of the disclosure, the system isconfigured to generate an alert and/or notify an external device basedon a predefined calendar event (e.g. a specific date and time).

Hereby, predefined calendar events e.g. in a smartphone may be used togenerate alerts or notifications.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the system isconfigured to generate an alert and/or notify an external device,preferably an external device of a service personal and/or a healthprofessional, in case that the detected position of a hearing deviceuser is outside a predefined range/area of positions.

Hereby, the system according to the disclosure can be used to keep trackof hearing device users e.g. hearing device users that are not allowedto leave a predefined area.

According to a further development of the disclosure, the system isconfigured to send one or more notifications to one or more of thehearing device users.

Hereby, it is possible to use the system according to the disclosure toinform and/or instruct the hearing device user about relevantinformation and/or tasks when required. This could for example be tochange the battery, intake of medicine, high or low level of bloodsugar, temperature indicated illness or any other suitable measure.

According to a further aspect according to the disclosure, the system isconfigured to:

A) automatically generate and send a notification to one or more of thehearing device users when one or more of the parameters of the one ormore hearing devices are outside a predefined range and/or

B) receive an instruction from an external device, preferably anexternal device of a service personal and/or a health professional, andgenerate and send a notification to one or more of the hearing deviceusers based on the received instruction.

Hereby, the system according to the disclosure can be used to treathearing device users remotely e.g. by health professionals includingphysicians.

According to the disclosure, the one or more notifications may beimplemented as voice messages pushed to the hearing device of interest.

Hereby, it is possible to provide the hearing device users withinformation in an easy manner. The receiver of the hearing devices maybe used to generate the voice messages.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the one or morenotifications is a voice message instructing the hearing device users toingest fluid (e.g. water) and/or medicine.

Hereby, the system can be used to prevent dehydration and a patientforgetting to take a medication.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the one or morenotifications received by the hearing device users are generated on thebasis of detection of water level in the brain of the hearing deviceusers and/or the bio impedance of the hearing device users and/or theglucose level of the hearing device users.

Hereby, the system according to the disclosure can be used to preventdehydration and a critical glucose level of the hearing device users.

Furthermore, according to the disclosure, the system is configured tocarry out measurements of the electrical activity of the brain of ahearing device user by using one or more hearing devices provided withsensors for detection of the electrical activity of the brain of ahearing device user.

Hereby, the system according to the disclosure can be used to estimatethe overall mental energy of the wearer of the hearing device.

In addition, the system may be configured to detect the acceleration ofone or more of the hearing devices by using one or more hearing devicesprovided with sensors for detection of the acceleration of a hearingdevice user.

Hereby, the system according to the disclosure may be used to detect ifthe hearing device user is falling or moving (e.g. doing sport).

Another implementation according to the disclosure is for the system todetect the heart rate of one or more of the hearing device users byusing one or more hearing devices provided with sensors for detection ofthe heart rate of a hearing device user.

Hereby, the system according to the disclosure may use the heart rate toprocess the signals according to predefined roles dependent on the heartrate. Moreover, the system may be used as a health monitoring tool.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the system may beconfigured to detect the temperature of one or more of the hearingdevice users by using one or more hearing devices provided with sensorsfor detection of the temperature of a hearing device user. Hereby, thesystem according to the disclosure may be used as a health monitoringtool that includes temperature measurements.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the system isconfigured to detect the temperature of one or more of the hearingdevices at one or more predefined times. Hereby, the system can detectwhen the temperature of the hearing device user changes over time (whichmay indicate sickness).

Furthermore, the system may be configured to detect the user patterns onthe basis of the temperatures.

Hereby, the system may set the processing settings on the basis ofdetected temperatures (e.g. sports setting when the body temperatureincreases due to physical activity).

In addition, the system may be configured to detect the blood glucoselevel of one or more of the hearing device users by using one or morehearing devices provided with sensors for detection of the blood glucoselevel of a hearing device user.

Hereby, the user may be informed in case that an insulin dose isrequired.

According to a further embodiment, the system is configured to detectthe water level in the brain of one or more of the hearing device usersby using one or more hearing devices provided with sensors for detectionof the water level in the brain.

Hereby, it is possible to prevent illness in the brain by using a systemaccording to the disclosure.

The system may also, according to the disclosure, be configured todetect the degree of dehydration and/or the humidity and/or the bioimpedance of one or more of the hearing devices users by using one ormore hearing devices provided with one or more sensors for detection ofthe degree of dehydration and/or humidity and/or bio impedance of ahearing device user.

Hereby, the system according to the disclosure may be used to preventdehydration of the hearing device user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The aspects of the disclosure may be best understood from the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures.The figures are schematic and simplified for clarity, and they just showdetails to improve the understanding of the claims, while other detailsare left out.

Throughout, the same reference numerals are used for identical orcorresponding parts. The individual features of each aspect may each becombined with any or all features of the other aspects. These and otheraspects, features and/or technical effects will be apparent from andelucidated with reference to the illustrations described hereinafter inwhich:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a system according to an embodiment ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows another schematic view of a system according to anembodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of how data is communicated from hearingdevices towards a central unit in a system according to an embodiment ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of a hearing aid user wearing a hearingdevice provided with a sensor;

FIG. 5A shows a schematic perspective view of a hearing device accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure provided with sensors;

FIG. 5B shows a schematic perspective view of another hearing deviceaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 5C shows a schematic perspective view of a further hearing deviceaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows a system for intelligent and wireless monitoring andmanagement of diabetes in hearing devices;

FIG. 7 shows a system for intelligent and wireless monitoring andmanagement of diabetes in a cochlear implant;

FIG. 8 shows a system for intelligent wireless monitoring and managementin a bone-anchored hearing system;

FIG. 9A shows a schematic view of a hearing device user drinking inresponse to a thirst signal;

FIG. 9B shows a schematic view of a left and right hearing devicecommunicating with a smartphone 8 and via the Internet;

FIG. 9C shows a hearing device user 20 wearing a first hearing deviceand a second hearing device and

FIG. 10 shows a first hearing device user (a baby) and a second hearingdevice user (a child) using wearable health monitoring hearing devices.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appendeddrawings is intended as a description of various configurations. Thedetailed description includes specific details for the purpose ofproviding a thorough understanding of various concepts. However, it willbe apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may bepracticed without these specific details. Several embodiments of theapparatus and system are described by various blocks, functional units,modules, components, circuits, steps, processes, algorithms, etc.(collectively referred to as “elements”). Depending upon particularapplication, design constraints or other reasons, these elements may beimplemented using electronic hardware, computer programs, or anycombination thereof.

The electronic hardware may include microprocessors, microcontrollers,digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), gated logic, discretehardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform thevarious functionality described throughout this disclosure. Computerprogram shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instructionsets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, softwaremodules, applications, software applications, software packages,routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution,procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware,middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

A hearing device may include a hearing aid that is adapted to improve oraugment the hearing capability of a user by receiving an acoustic signalfrom a user's surroundings, generating a corresponding audio signal,possibly modifying the audio signal and providing the possibly modifiedaudio signal as an audible signal to at least one of the user's ears.The “hearing device” may further refer to a device such as an earphoneor a headset adapted to receive an audio signal electronically, possiblymodifying the audio signal and providing the possibly modified audiosignals as an audible signal to at least one of the user's ears. Suchaudible signals may be provided in the form of an acoustic signalradiated into the user's outer ear, or an acoustic signal transferred asmechanical vibrations to the user's inner ears through bone structure ofthe user's head and/or through parts of the middle ear of the user orelectric signals transferred directly or indirectly to the cochlearnerve and/or to the auditory cortex of the user.

The hearing device is adapted to be worn in any known way. This mayinclude i) arranging a unit of the hearing device behind the ear with atube leading air-borne acoustic signals into the ear canal or with areceiver/loudspeaker arranged close to or in the ear canal such as in aBehind-the-Ear type hearing aid, and/or ii) arranging the hearing deviceentirely or partly in the pinna and/or in the ear canal of the user suchas in a In-the-Ear type hearing aid or In-the-Canal/Completely-in-Canaltype hearing aid, or iii) arranging a unit of the hearing deviceattached to a fixture implanted into the skull bone such as in BoneAnchored Hearing Aid or Cochlear Implant, or iv) arranging a unit of thehearing device as an entirely or partly implanted unit such as in BoneAnchored Hearing Aid or Cochlear Implant.

A “hearing system” refers to a system comprising one or two hearingdevices, and a “binaural hearing system” refers to a system comprisingtwo hearing devices where the devices are adapted to cooperativelyprovide audible signals to both of the user's ears. The hearing systemor binaural hearing system may further include auxiliary device(s) thatcommunicate with at least one hearing device, the auxiliary deviceaffecting the operation of the hearing devices and/or benefiting fromthe functioning of the hearing devices. A wired or wirelesscommunication link between the at least one hearing device and theauxiliary device is established that allows for exchanging information(e.g. control and status signals, possibly audio signals) between the atleast one hearing device and the auxiliary device. Such auxiliarydevices may include at least one of the following: remote controls,remote microphones, audio gateway devices, mobile phones, public-addresssystems, car audio systems or music players or a combination thereof.The audio gateway is adapted to receive a multitude of audio signalssuch as from an entertainment device like a TV or a music player, atelephone apparatus like a mobile telephone or a computer, a PC. Theaudio gateway is further adapted to select and/or combine an appropriateone of the received audio signals (or combination of signals) fortransmission to the at least one hearing device.

The remote control is adapted to control functionality and operation ofthe at least one hearing devices. The function of the remote control maybe implemented in a SmartPhone or other electronic device, theSmartPhone/electronic device possibly running an application thatcontrols functionality of the at least one hearing device.

In general, a hearing device includes i) an input unit such as amicrophone for receiving an acoustic signal from a user's surroundingsand providing a corresponding input audio signal, and/or ii) a receivingunit for electronically receiving an input audio signal. The hearingdevice further includes a signal processing unit for processing theinput audio signal and an output unit for providing an audible signal tothe user in dependence on the processed audio signal.

The input unit may include multiple input microphones, e.g. forproviding direction-dependent audio signal processing. Such adirectional microphone system is adapted to enhance a target acousticsource among a multitude of acoustic sources in the user's environment.In one aspect, the directional system is adapted to detect (such asadaptively detect) from which direction a particular part of themicrophone signal originates. This may be achieved by usingconventionally known methods. The signal processing unit may include anamplifier that is adapted to apply a frequency dependent gain to theinput audio signal. The signal processing unit may further be adapted toprovide other relevant functionality such as compression, noisereduction, etc.

The output unit may include an output transducer such as aloudspeaker/receiver for providing an air-borne acoustic signaltranscutaneously or percutaneously to the skull bone or a vibrator forproviding a structure-borne or liquid-borne acoustic signal. In somehearing devices, the output unit may include one or more outputelectrodes for providing the electric signals such as in a CochlearImplant.

It should be noted that any type of hearing aid type, comprising atleast some of the above-mentioned features may be used in connectionwith the system according to this disclosure.

Now referring to FIG. 1, which illustrates a schematic view of amonitoring system 2 according to the disclosure, it can be seen that themonitoring system 2 (also referred to as the system) comprises aplurality of access points 4, 4′, 4″, 4′″, 4″″ provided in differentlocations 6, 6′, 6″, 6′″ in a building.

The building comprises a dining room (provided with tables and chairs)indicated as a first location 6. Several access points 4 are provided inthe first location (dining room) 6. The building moreover comprises a TVroom indicated as a second location 6′. A plurality of access points 4″″are provided in the second location 6′. The building additionallycomprises a first residential area indicated as a third location 6″, asecond residential area indicated as a fourth location 6′″ and a thirdresidential area indicated as a fifth location 6″″. A plurality ofaccess points 4′, 4″, 4′″ are provided in the first residential area 6″,the second residential area 6′″ and the third residential area 6″″,respectively.

The building may be any type of building including an institution, acare center, an old people's home or a hospital.

The access points 4, 4′, 4″, 4′″, 4″″ is preferably a wireless personalarea network based on for example bluetooth, such as Bluetooth lowenergy (Bluetooth Smart) technology. The access points 4, 4′, 4″, 4′″,4″″ are configured to communicate wirelessly with one or more hearingdevices, such as hearing aids. Hereby, the hearing aids of one or morehearing aid users may receive information from the access points 4, 4′,4″, 4′″, 4″″ and transmit data which is received by the access points 4,4′, 4″, 4′″, 4″″.

The system is suitable for use in connection with hearing aid users inpublic as well as private buildings. The system is suitable for beinginstalled in buildings with multiple hearing device users. The data thatis collected by means of the access points 4, 4′, 4″, 4′″, 4″″ may bereached by remote individuals including hearing care professionalsoutside the building. Also it is possibly that the data is stored in acentral unit at the location of installation of the access points.

The access points may be provided as small sized communication devicescomprising a battery electrically connected to a printed circuit boardhaving an integrated transmitter unit comprising a radio unit and anantenna for transmission of wireless radio signals. Due to their smallsize, the access points 4, 4′, 4″, 4′″, 4″″ may be placed in publictransportation, at various locations in the public domain e.g. incultural venues, shopping malls, sport facilities, community centers,religious sites.

The plurality of access points 4, 4′, 4″, 4′″, 4″″ constitute a meshnetwork which is highly scalable because the access points 4, 4′, 4″,4′″, 4″″ are not required to be physically connected directly to thenetwork master unit. The access points 4, 4′, 4″, 4′″, 4″″ can connectdirectly with other access points 4, 4′, 4″, 4′″, 4″″ within theirrange, and relay any message, information or status to other accesspoints 4, 4′, 4″, 4′″, 4″″ in such a manner that it eventually isdelivered from a hearing device to the network master unit. In addition,it is possible to apply hearing aids that are configured to be used asaccess points 4, 4′, 4″, 4′″, 4″″ and relay information received (e.g.from another hearing device) to a dedicated access point 4, 4′, 4″, 4′″,4″″. One of the access points 4, 4′, 4″, 4′″, 4″″ may function as anetwork master unit configured to communicate with a remote unit. Such aremote unit may be a server allowing external individuals includinghearing care professionals to access the remote unit in order to receivedata/information from the hearing devices. Such data/information mayinclude the status of a hearing device including the battery level orpower level of the hearing device monitored remotely and reported to theremote unit that may be controlled by a service provider. Thedata/information may include information related to battery change(battery change may be scheduled and carried out by the serviceprovider). Such feature may reduce the “downtime” of a hearing deviceand the battery lifetime can be extended by remotely controlled powerscheduling.

Generally, the hearing aid status and performance may be monitored andproblems may be reported to the remote unit and/or the service provider.

The hearing aid status may include the position of the hearing devicewith respect to the ear canal (so that a wrong positioning of a hearingdevice can be detected and reported to the remote unit and/or theservice provider).

The hearing device status may include the location of the hearing deviceand thus the location of the hearing device user. In this manner, it ispossible to track hearing device users and prevent demented hearingdevice users from leaving a building. Accordingly, the risk of injuryfor demented hearing devices can be reduced.

The location of the hearing device and thus the location of the hearingdevice user may be used to control/regulate the hearing device programbeing used.

In this manner, it is possible to detect when the hearing device user isin a first location (the dining room) 6 and apply predefined hearingdevice settings in order to meet the conditions of the first location(the dining room) 6.

In the same manner, the system makes it possible to detect when thehearing device user is in another location and apply predefined hearingdevice settings in order to meet the conditions of this other location.It is possible to use the time to further fine-tune the settings. Inthis manner, the system according to the disclosure may applyinformation about both the location of the hearing device user and thetime to provide the most optimum settings.

If the hearing device user is located in the dining room aboutdinnertime, dinnertime specific settings may be applied. Likewise, thesystem may be configured to apply predefined hearing device settingsdependent on other locations

It is possible to apply various health monitoring features (e.g. heartrate, blood pressure or temperature) which may provide the hearing aiduser with a sense of security when wearing the hearing device.

The system according to the disclosure makes it possible for thecaretakers/service provider to have access to data from a plurality ofusers in the same the remote unit (e.g. a server) using only oneplatform. It is in particular possible for the caretakers/serviceprovider to gain precise knowledge of battery level in all hearingdevices.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic view of a system 2 according to anembodiment of the disclosure. The system comprises a first hearingdevice, collectively referred to as a hearing aid 8, configured towirelessly communicate with a first access point 4 by means of a firstwireless data connection 14. The first wireless data connection 14 isconfigured to communicate wirelessly with a second access point 4′ bymeans of a wireless data connection 16. The second access point 4′ isconfigured to communicate wirelessly with a central unit 10 by means ofa wireless data connection 16. The central unit 10 is configured tocommunicate via the Internet 12 in a cloud solution. Accordingly, thedata received by the central unit 10 may be accessed through a remoteunit (e.g. by a hearing care professional via the Internet 12).

The system comprises a second hearing device 8′ configured to wirelesslycommunicate with a third hearing device 8″ by means of a wireless dataconnection 14. The third hearing device 8″ is configured to communicatewirelessly with an access point 5. The access point 5 is configured tocommunicate wirelessly with three different access points 5′, 5″, 5′″ bymeans of wireless data connections 16.

The system comprises a fourth hearing device 8′″ configured towirelessly communicate with access points 4′″ and 5″″ by means ofwireless data connections 14. The access points 5″″ communicateswirelessly with an access point 4″ by means of a wireless dataconnection 16.

The system comprises a fifth hearing device 8″″ configured to wirelesslycommunicate with access points 4″, 4″″ and 5′ by means of wireless dataconnections 14. The access points 4″ communicates wirelessly with theaccess point 5″″ and the access point 4″″ by means of wireless dataconnections 16. The access points 5′ communicates wirelessly with theaccess point 5 and the access point 4″″ by means of wireless dataconnections 16.

The access points 5″ communicates wirelessly with an access point 5′″ bymeans of a wireless data connection 16 and the access points 5′″communicates wirelessly with the central unit 10 by means of a wirelessdata connection 16.

The wireless data connection 14 (indicated with dotted lines) betweenthe hearing devices 8, 8′, 8″, 8′″, 8″″ and the access points 4, 4′, 4″,4′″, 4″″, 5, 5′, 5″, 5′″ may be conducted by using any suitablecommunications protocol, including Bluetooth Low Energy (BluetoothSmart) and wireless LAN.

The wireless data connection 16 (indicated with arced lines) betweendifferent access points 4, 4′, 4″, 4′″, 4″″, 5, 5′, 5″, 5′″ and betweenthe access points 4, 4′, 4″, 4′″, 4″″, 5, 5′, 5″, 5′″ and the centralunit 10 may be conducted by using any suitable communications protocol,including a wireless local area network (WLAN), WIFI, Bluetooth or otherwireless networking technology.

A hearing care professional is preferably provided with access to thedata received by the central unit 10 through a remote unit (e.g. by viathe Internet/Cloud 12).

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic view of how data is communicated fromhearing devices 8, 8′, 8″, 8′″, 8″″, 8′″″ to a central unit 10 in asystem according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The systemcomprises a first hearing aid 8 configured to wirelessly communicatedirectly with a central unit 10 by means of a wireless data connection14. The system moreover comprises a second hearing aid 8′ configured towirelessly communicate directly with the central unit 10 by means of awireless data connection 14.

The system moreover comprises a third hearing device 8″ configured towirelessly communicate with a smartphone 48 by means of a wireless dataconnection 14. The smartphone 48 is configured to communicate wirelesslywith the central unit 10 by means of a wireless data connection 16.

The system moreover comprises a fourth hearing device 8′″ configured towirelessly communicate directly with the central unit 10 by means of awireless data connection 14.

The system moreover comprises a fifth hearing device 8″″ configured towirelessly communicate directly with a computer 49 by means of awireless data connection 14. The computer 49 communicates via theInternet/cloud 12 by means of a data connection 16. There is a dataconnection 16 between the Internet/cloud and the central unit 10.

The sixth hearing device 8′″″ communicates wirelessly with a smartphone48′ configured to communicate with the central unit 10 by means of awireless data connection 16. The sixth hearing device 8′″″ communicateswirelessly via the Internet 12 by means of a wireless data connection14.

The hearing devices 8, 8′, 8″, 8′″, 8″″, 8′″″ may either communicatedirectly with the central unit 10 or by means of an intermediate device48, 48′, 49.

The data received by the central unit 10 may be accessed through aremote unit (e.g. by a hearing care professional via the Internet 12).Accordingly, the system according to the disclosure provides access todata transmitted by the hearing devices 8, 8′, 8″, 8′″, 8″″, 8′″″ in aneasy manner even from a remote location. Therefore, the data transmittedby the hearing devices 8, 8′, 8″, 8′″, 8″″, 8′″″ may be applied toincrease the comfort of the hearing device user and to provide a way ofdetermining the correct time of service or replacement of elements suchas the battery.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of a hearing aid user 20 wearing a hearingaid 8 provided with a sensor, wherein the hearing device 8 is configuredto communicate wirelessly directly or indirectly with a central unit 10.

In the bottom part of FIG. 4, a schematic view of a hearing aid user 20is shown. The hearing aid user 20 is wearing a behind-the-ear (BTE)hearing device 8 behind the ear 18, wherein the speaker 22 has beenpositioned in the ear canal. The hearing device 8 is equipped with asensor and a communication unit configured to communicate wirelesslywith communication devices 48 in the surroundings of the hearing aiduser 20.

In the top part of FIG. 4, a schematic view of a hearing device 8 isshown. The hearing device 8 communicates wirelessly with a smartphone 48that is communicating wirelessly with a central unit 10 formed as aserver 10. An auxiliary device 27 is provided next to the hearing device8 in FIG. 4. The auxiliary device 27 may communicate wirelessly with thesmartphone 48 and the hearing device 8.

The hearing aid 8 may be configured as a health monitoring hearing aid 8configured to measure the electrical activity of the brain by usingelectroencephalography (EEG). The hearing device 8 may thereforecomprise sensors for detecting EEG signals and a unit for transmittingthe detected EEG signals, descriptions of the EEG signals, or decisionsbased on the EEG signals to the smartphone 48 or another suitabledevice. The hearing device 8 may comprise sensors configured to detector estimate one or more of the following parameters: heart rate, heartrate variability, oxygen saturation (level of oxygen), blood pressureand level of sugar in the blood, body temperature, bioelectricalimpedance, skin conductance, ultraviolet (UV) exposure, acceleration,vibration, pH, bacteria concentration, blood glucose level. The hearingdevice 8 may comprise an accelerometer, a pH sensor, a pHsensitive-coating, a blood glucose meter or printed pigments as achemical sensor for bacteria by way of example. The sensors may beintegrated in the ear piece of the hearing device (e.g. a dome or an earmould).

The smartphone 48 may be replaced by another device capable of providingthe required communication. Such devices may include a tablet, PC, andwearable devices as Smartwatches and Smartglasses. The device maycontain one or more microphones.

Sensor data received by the central unit 10 can be communicatedwirelessly via the Internet 12 by means of a wireless data connection16. Hereby, the data can be accessed by a hearing care professional froma remote location.

The wireless data connections 14 may be conducted by using any suitablecommunications protocol, including Bluetooth Low Energy (BluetoothSmart) and wireless LAN. The wireless data connection 16 (indicated withan arced line) between the central unit 10 and the Internet 12 may beconducted by using any suitable communications protocol, including awireless local area network (WLAN), WIFI, Bluetooth or other wirelessnetworking technology.

FIG. 5A) illustrates a schematic perspective view of a hearing aid 8according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The hearing aid 8comprises an ear piece 30 provided with sensors 24, 26, 28 and a speaker22. The sensors 24, 26, 28 protrude from the surface of the ear piece30. The ear piece 30 is connected to the housing 34 of the hearing aid 8by a tube 32. The hearing aid 8 is a BTE style hearing device 8 withsensors with electrodes 24, 26, 28 formed for example as electrodes.

The hearing aid 8 is a health monitoring hearing aid 8 configured tomeasure EEG signals, process the EEG signals, or transmit the EEG datato an external receiver like a smartphone for further processing thereor in the cloud. The hearing aid 8 may be configured to apply the EEGsignals to estimate heart rate and/or heart rate variability.

In one embodiment according to the disclosure, the hearing aid 8 isconfigured to be a built-in or associated with part of a sportsmonitoring and training program. The sensor data from the hearing aid 8may be applied to quantify/estimate the overall mental energy of thewearer at the time of the exercise.

Over time, the hearing aid 8 will provide sensor data including themental energy after exercise. Accordingly, the hearing aid 8 may becapable of predicting the benefit of a given exercise and optimise themental energy for the rest of the day by modifying the exercise program.

The hearing aid 8 may be configured to interact with the wearer byplaying sounds to signal changes, e.g. saying: go slower, go faster, andincrease intensity. Furthermore, the hearing aid may be configured togenerate guiding input in form of beeps or other non-speech sounds orvia visual indicators on a smartphone.

The hearing aid may be configured to be set into one or more “sportsmodes” associated to one or more different sound processing schemes. Inone embodiment of the disclosure, the hearing aid 8 is configured todetect the heart rate level, preferably based on a detected EEG signal,and apply the detected or estimated heart rate to set the hearing aid 8in a sport mode. It may be beneficial that the hearing aid 8 isconfigured to compensate for the distortions of spatial perceptionimposed by either blocking the ear canal with an ear mould or a hearingaid, and the altered spatial cues due to microphone positions.

In one aspect of the disclosure, the hearing aid is configured toprioritise sound sources approaching the wearer from behind. Moreover,the hearing aid 8 may be configured to prioritise speech sounds withalerting prosody, e.g. an animated watch out.

FIG. 5B) shows a schematic perspective view of another hearing aid 8according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The hearing aid 8comprises a built-in sensor integrated in the ear mould of the hearingaid 8. It is possible to apply a built-in sensor in various types ofhearing devices including receiver-in-the-ear (RITE), BTE, in-the-ear(ITE), completely-in-canal (CIC) and invisible in the canal (IIC) typehearing devices. The sensor may be a heart-rate sensor configured tocontinuously monitor the heart rate, analyze, and classify abnormalactivity. The hearing device 8 may be configured to inform the hearingdevice user when it is recommended to consult a doctor.

Abnormal heart rhythm, either fast-fluctuating or continuously elevated,may be a sign of serious heart or circulatory diseases, which in somecases may indicate or lead to ventricular fibrillation (cause of 50% ofall cardiac deaths), sudden cardiac death, fainting, or strokes.Prolonged increased heart rate, which may be indicative ofcardiovascular risks, such as coronary artery disease (blockage in thepipes of the heart) may be detected by monitoring the heart rate.

The sensor may be optical, mechanical, or acoustical. When applying anoptical sensor, the heart rate sensor can be formed as a small lightemitter that transmits light towards a blood vessel in the ear canal anda sensor unit configured to measure the reflected light. This approachcan also be used to measure/estimate oxygen levels in the blood.

When applying a mechanical sensor, the heart rate sensor can be formedas a sensor unit comprising an accelerometer placed on or close to thesurface of the ear mould of the hearing aid 8. The sensor unit may beconfigured to detect vibration of the blood vessels under the skin ofthe ear mould. The hearing device may be configured to filter out noise(e.g. from other body movements) by using heart rate measurementsconducted by means of the hearing device 8.

When applying an acoustical sensor, a small microphone 38 configured topick up sound from the arteries surrounding the ear canal may be placedon the side of the ear mould as illustrated in FIG. 5C). Alternatively,vibrations from the blood vessels will excite the air in the ear canal(which makes it is possible to hear the heartbeat when blocking the earswith the fingers). This may be detected by a dedicated microphone 38provided at the inner side of the ear mould.

The hearing device may preferably be configured to carry out signalprocessing in order to extract the heartbeat signal from the sensor. Itis possible to apply a modulation analysis for this purpose.

The hearing aid 8 shown in FIG. 5B is configured to reduce the occlusioneffect. The hearing aid 8 may be provided with a microphone configuredto pick up body-transmitted sounds. The hearing aid 8 is provided with afirst bore 42 for transmitting sound from the receiver (see FIG. 5C) ofthe hearing aid 8 towards the ear drum of the hearing aid user. Thehearing aid 8 is provided with a second bore 44 for providingventilation via the vent 40 shown in FIG. 5C.

FIG. 5C illustrates a schematic perspective view of a further hearingaid 8 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The hearing device 8is configured to be inserted into the ear canal. The hearing aid 8comprises a vent 40 for preventing the occlusion effect. The hearing aid8 is provided with a centrally arranged receiver 22 configured togenerate and acoustically transmit sound through an opening in the frontend of the hearing aid 8. The hearing device 8 is provided with amicrophone connected to a first cross socket 36, whereas the receiver 22is connected to another cross socket 36.

The hearing devices 8 shown in FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B and FIG. 5C are suitablefor being used to track performance during fitness exercise and/or otherhealth monitoring purposes. One main benefit is that the sensor residesin a hearing device already used by a hearing device user.

Detected data is preferably communicated to the Internet/cloud. The data(e.g. EEG-signals) may be used to estimate physical conditions and“mental energy”: Accordingly, the data may be used to generaterecommendations such as modifications of user behavior. The hearingdevice 8 may be configured to communicate with a smartphone.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the hearing device isconfigured to provide one or more acoustic reminders and/or warnings tothe hearing aid user 20. A reminder may be generated on the basis ontime (triggered by a setting in a personal calendar in a smartphone),location, body measures such as heart rate, temperature, EEG signals andindoor climate parameters such as temperature and humidity. The hearingaid may be used to provide scheduled reminders and also reminders andwarnings caused by other events in the daily life. As cognitive skillsdecline with age, elderly hearing aid users 20 may have an added benefitfrom such features.

It may be an advantage that the hearing aid 8 is configured to generatea reminder and/or a warning can be triggered by the hearing aid 8 itselfand by a smartphone 48 connected to the hearing device 8. The hearingaid 8 may be configured to generate a reminder and/or a warning on thebasis of a calendar event in the calendar of the smartphone 48. Thehearing aid 8 may be configured to generate a reminder and/or a warningrelated to medicine intake, wherein the reminder and/or a warning isgenerated by using a smartphone application that has the prescriptionsstored and a Near Field Communication, (NFC) reader or a QR code readeror a bar code reader configured to detect and monitor a pillbox fromwhich the medicine is taken.

The hearing aid 8 may be configured to generate an exercise reminder,triggered by calendar (time) or physical monitoring of the hearing aiduser 20 directly from the hearing aid 8.

The hearing aid 8 may be configured to generate a reminder and/or awarning triggered by EEG signals detected by the hearing device 8.

The hearing aid 8 may be configured to detect that the hearing aid user20 is falling asleep (by means of EEG signals detected by the hearingdevice 8) while driving a car.

The hearing aid 8 may be configured to detect parameters related to thelocal climate, e.g. moisture from rain or shower. If possible, thisshould be triggered before actual water drops hit the hearing aid. Thehearing aid 8 may be configured to generate a reminder and/or a warningbased on such detected climate related parameters.

The hearing aid 8 may be configured to detect parameters related to thelocation, e.g. a warning triggered by the location detected by a GlobalPositioning System (GPS) receiver. The hearing aid 8 may be configuredto the distance to water (shoreline). Such warning may be generated inorder to remind the user 20 to take the hearing aid 8 off, before goingswimming.

Accordingly, the hearing aid 8 may be the centre of relevant acousticnotifications to the user 20. All reminders and/or warnings and/oralarms may preferably be spoken in clear language. The reminders and/orwarnings and/or alarms may be postponed up to a defined time limit, ifthe surroundings are too noisy for a good playback. Likewise, it may bean advantage that a “repeat” feature is provided, in such a manner thatif the user misses a reminder and/or warning and/or alarm, said reminderand/or warning and/or alarm should be visible on the smartphone 48.

FIG. 6 illustrates a system for intelligent and wireless monitoring andmanagement of diabetes in hearing devices.

Diabetes results in abnormally high concentrations of glucose in theblood. Therefore, diabetic patients monitor their blood glucose levelsin order to control when an antihyperglycemic agent such as insulin isrequired. Blood glucose monitoring is usually conducted by using aninvasive method.

Diabetic patients manage high blood glucose levels with oral or injectedantihyperglycemic agents such as insulin. Insulin can be injectedmanually or by means of an injection pump.

According to one aspect according to the disclosure, the systemcomprises a hearing aid provided with a wireless chip configured tosupport non-invasive blood glucose level monitoring. It may be anadvantage that the wireless chip is configured to enable ongoing andintelligent diabetes monitoring and management e.g. by communicatingwith Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the system comprises ahearing aid provided with a blood glucose meter that does not requirepricking. Such blood glucose meter may be a biochip configured tomeasure glucose through non-invasive dermatological patches or in bodyfluids such as saliva, electrochemical sensors, or mid-infrared lightsensors. It is possible to apply a sensor that monitors glucose sugarlevels without needing pricking. Such sensor may be implemented in ahearing aid according to the disclosure. It is possible to provide animplementation of a non-invasive dermatological patch on the surface ofthe ear mould or receiver unit.

FIG. 6 shows a system for intelligent and wireless monitoring andmanagement of diabetes in hearing devices, such as hearing aids. Asindicated, an ear mould or a receiver unit 60 of a hearing aid (such asa RITE by way of example) is provided with a sensor 61 configured toconduct a non-invasive blood sugar monitoring. This sensor 61 isconfigured to communicate 62 with the other parts of the hearing aid,such as a BTE unit 63, which is configured to communicate with anintegrated register 65. The hearing aid comprises a radio frequencytransmitter unit (RF Tx) 64 and a radio frequency receiving unit (RF Rx)66 connected to a communication unit 67 configured to communicatewirelessly with an external management system 68 and an externalelectric device (e.g. a smartphone, a computer or a tablet). Thereceiver unit 69 of the hearing aid is configured to receive audio data70 sent from the hearing aid. The hearing aid comprises a digital signalprocessing device (DSP), one or more microphone and a battery.

The external electric device 71, such as a cell phone, ipad or computercomprises a communication unit 72 configured to receive information fromthe hearing device and to transmit information to an external systemindicated as “big data” 73. The external system is configured totransfer data to end-users including but not limited to parents, nursinghomes, health care professionals and other suitable receivers.

The external management system 68 comprises a communication unit 74configured to communicate (e.g. wirelessly) with the external electricdevice and/or with the external system indicated as “big data” 73. Theexternal management system 68 may be a device comprising an insulin pumpand a communication unit.

The solid lines indicate data transfer while the dotted line indicatesaudio transfer.

By using a system as shown in FIG. 6, it is possible to improve themedical treatment of diabetic hearing device users.

FIG. 7 shows a system for intelligent and wireless monitoring andmanagement of diabetes in a cochlear implant, wherein the implantationof a blood glucose meter is part of the cochlear implant. Inside theskull 80, the cochlear implant is provided with a blood sugar monitoringsystem 81 configured to transfer data to a radio frequency transmitterdevice 82 connected to an antenna/inductor 83 for communicating with acorresponding antenna/inductor 84 provided within the sound processorunit outside the skull.

The cochlear implant is provided with cochlear implant electrodes 86configured to communicate (data transfer) with a radio frequencyreceiver device 87 connected to the antenna/inductor. The soundprocessor unit is attached to the skull by magnetic attraction 88between corresponding magnets 88′ provided as part of the implantedcochlear implant and as part of the sound processor unit. The soundprocessor unit comprises a digital signal processing device (DSP), oneor more microphone and a battery.

The sound processor unit 85 is configured to communicate with anintegrated register 89. The sound processor unit comprises a radiofrequency transmitter unit 90 (RF Tx) and a radio frequency receivingunit (RF Rx) 91 connected to a communication unit 92 configured tocommunicate wirelessly with an external management 93 system and anexternal electric device 94 (e.g. a smartphone, a computer or a tablet).

The external electric device 93, such as the external management system,comprises a communication unit 95 configured to receive information fromthe hearing device and to transmit information to an external systemindicated as “big data” 96. The external system indicated as “big data”96 is configured to transfer data to end-users 97 including but notlimited to parents, nursing homes, health care professionals and othersuitable receivers.

The cochlear implant may include i) an external part for picking up andprocessing sound from the environment, and for determining sequences ofpulses for stimulation of the electrodes in dependence on the currentinput sound, ii) a (typically wireless, e.g. inductive) communicationlink for simultaneously transmitting information about the stimulationsequences and for transferring energy to iii) an implanted part allowingthe stimulation to be generated and applied to a number of electrodes,which are implantable in different locations of the cochlea allowing astimulation of different frequencies of the audible range. Such systemsare e.g. described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,441 and in U.S. Pat. No.4,532,930.

In an embodiment, the hearing aid comprises multi-electrode array e.g.in the form of a carrier comprising a multitude of electrodes adaptedfor being located in the cochlea in proximity of an auditory nerve ofthe user. The carrier is preferably made of a flexible material to allowproper positioning of the electrodes in the cochlea such that theelectrodes may be inserted in cochlea of a recipient. Preferably, theindividual electrodes are spatially distributed along the length of thecarrier to provide a corresponding spatial distribution along thecochlear nerve in the cochlea when the carrier is inserted in cochlea.

FIG. 8 shows a system for intelligent and wireless monitoring andmanagement of diabetes in a bone-anchored hearing system (BAHS), whereinthe implantation of a blood glucose meter is provided as part of theBAHS.

Inside the skull, the cochlear implant 100 is provided with a bloodsugar monitoring system 101 configured to transfer data to a radiofrequency transmitter device 102 connected to an antenna/inductor 103for communicating with a corresponding antenna/inductor 104 provided inthe sound processor unit 105 outside the skull.

The implant is provided with an implant vibrator 106 configured toreceive data from a radio frequency receiver device 107 connected to theantenna/inductor 103. The sound processor unit 105 is attached to theskull by means of a snap 109 (being part of the sound processor outsidethe skull) and an abutment 108 provided as part of the implant. Thesound processor unit comprises a digital signal processing device (DSP),one or more microphone and a battery.

The sound processor unit 105 is configured to communicate with anintegrated register 110. The sound processor unit 105 comprises a radiofrequency transmitter unit (RF Tx) 111 and a radio frequency receivingunit (RF Rx) 112 connected to a communication unit 113 configured tocommunicate wirelessly with an external management system 114 and anexternal electric device 115 (e.g. a smartphone, a computer or atablet).

The external electric device 115 comprises a communication unit 116configured to receive information from the hearing device and totransmit information to an external system indicated as “big data” 117.The external system indicated as “big data” 117 is configured totransfer data to end-users 118 including but not limited to parents,nursing homes, health care professionals and other suitable receivers.

In the system explained with reference to FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, itis possible to apply applications for any communication platformincluding iPad/Android/Windows.

The diabetes management software can communicate in the form of radiofrequency communication to both the monitoring and the managementdevices. The system comprises a storage unit for storing blood glucoselevels and insulin regimens for later retrieval and/or display of trendsover time, with the option to send the information to end-users andthird parties such as parents/nursing homes and health careprofessionals.

The systems disclosed in FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and in FIG. 8 are configured todetect levels outside the normal range (wherein the normal range levelmay be individualised, e.g. set by a health care professional). Thesystem may be provided with diabetes management software configured toprompt suitable management in the form of insulin OR in the form oflifestyle advice parameters, e.g. a diet or exercise regimen. Thesystems may be configured to communicate suitable management to theend-user with voice prompt via the hearing device.

The systems described with reference to FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 areconfigured to allow the user to conduct self-screening andself-diagnosis of diabetes. Diabetes diagnosis is typically done with aglucose tolerance test which can be self-administered.

The data generated by the management and monitoring systems can be usedto optimise clinical decisions through machine learning and artificialintelligence (a la IBM's Watson). This optimisation can be carried outat a patient level or at a population level.

FIG. 9A) to 9C) illustrates a health monitoring system using hearingdevices with a wireless link. Elderly hearing aid users are typicallyold people who may experience health issue from day to day or subtlechanges over a longer time period. Examples may range from reduced dailywater intake causing dehydration to slow-growing tumors in the head.Bilateral hearing aids are in the perfect location for monitoringchanges to the head. Accordingly, in these embodiments, a first sensoris arranged in connection with a first hearing device, and a secondsensor is arranged in connection with a second hearing device of a user,wherein said first sensor is configured to transmit a signal to set saidsecond sensor and said second sensor is configured to receive a signalfrom said first sensor. That is, a first hearing aid is arranged on oneear of a user and the second hearing aid is arranged on the second earof a user, wherein the two hearing aids are able to transmit and receivedata from each other.

The hypothesis is that the magnetic/electric conductance in the headvaries with the relative water level in the head (short term) orpathologic anatomical changes (long term). This can be measured as thesignal strength and signal spectrum on the receiving side at regularintervals. Either inductive near link or electric 2.4 GHz can be useddepending on which system is most sensitive to the health parameters ofinterest. Special radio frequency signals on the state of the arthardware may also be applied for this purpose alone.

FIG. 9A illustrates a schematic view of a hearing device user 20drinking a soft drink or water 50 in response to a thirst signalgenerated in a brain tissue 54 of the brain 52.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the system comprises oneor two hearing devices 8, 8′ configured to measure the “water level” inthe brain 52 of the hearing device user 20. The “water level” in thebrain 52 of the hearing device user 20 may be measured in several ways.If the water level is below a predefined threshold for the hearingdevice user 20, a “reminder signal” is generated by at least one of thehearing devices 8, 8′ and sent to the user via e.g. a smartphone 48 oras a direct audio reminder, e.g. a speech message. Accordingly, the useris reminded to drink something as shown in FIG. 9A.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the system comprises oneor two hearing devices 8, 8′ configured to measure the relative waterlevel and log the measurements at regular intervals in order to store inat least one of the hearing devices 8, 8′. Hereafter, the informationcan be uploaded to the cloud/Internet 12 for use by e.g. a physician tomonitor the wellbeing of the hearing device user 20 as shown in FIG. 9Bthat illustrates a schematic view of a left and right hearing device 8,8′ communicating with a smartphone 48 and via the Internet 12.

FIG. 9C illustrates a hearing device user 20 wearing a first hearingdevice and second hearing device. The first hearing device transmits asignal 56 that is received by the second hearing device as a receivedsignal 58. That is, a first sensor is arranged in connection with afirst hearing device, and a second sensor is arranged in connection witha second hearing device of a user, wherein said first sensor isconfigured to transmit a signal to said second sensor and said secondsensor is configured to receive a signal from said first sensor. In thisway changes in the signals across the brain can be detected and used fordiagnostic purposes.

In FIG. 9C, the right hearing device is acting as transmitter and theleft hearing device is acting as receiver. The chemical composition ofthe brain 52 and the anatomy both affect the signal at the receivingend. Via reference data stored in the hearing devices and logging of keyparameters over time, the short-term and long-term deviations can bemeasured and used to inform the hearing device user 20 and/or aphysician, depending on the nature of the problem.

It is possible to measure the radio conductance and estimate thephysical state of the brain 52 on the basis of these measurements.

In the event of serious changes, such as a tumour in the brain 52 of ahearing device user 20, even small trends deviating from normal can bedetected via logging and sent to the physician who then decides when tocall the hearing device user 20 for further investigation. The method iscompletely non-invasive and does not require additional hardwarecomponents, e.g. electrodes in the ear canal. It may be preferred thatthe hearing device user 20 is never informed directly of this because itmay lead to unnecessary concerns.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the system comprisesone or two hearing devices 8, 8′ provided with a dehydration measuringcircuitry. Accordingly, it is possible to provide improved hearingdevices 8, 8′.

The hearing devices 8, 8′ already contain a power source, loudspeaker(e.g. to produce alerts) and processing device(s) (DSP, MCU). Thedehydration measuring circuitry may be configured to perform thedehydration measurement as a “bodily fluid” measurement conducted bydetecting an impedance measurement of the internal and external tissuefluid (giving an “2R-1C” equivalent network) over a frequency range(e.g. 5-100 kHz). A four-electrode measurement may be used forincreasing the accuracy; the AC current level may be 40 uA. The degreeof dehydration may be detected as a change within the impedance pattern.Such solution is easy to implement since the hearing device is alreadyin direct contact with the skin.

It is possible to apply a hearing device configured to contact arecording device in the form as a smartphone, a computer or anotherdevice by which it is possible to alert/inform caregivers. Theconnection between the hearing device and recording devices can beeither wireless or wired.

According to a further embodiment of the disclosure, the systemcomprises a hearing device 8, 8′ configured to provide an audiblewarning and/or send an alert to a smartphone that may be configured towarn a caregiver by Short Message Service (SMS) and/or send alerts to amore centralized system (PC or Smart Home/Smart Nursery Home Hub) and/orlog the detected data when dehydration is detected.

The dehydration measurement function can be either a part of a hearingdevice or used by a non-hearing device user. For non-hearing deviceusers, a caregiver can hand out a device and setup the measurementparameters and/or alarms.

FIG. 10 illustrates a first hearing device user 20 (a baby) and a secondhearing device user 20′ (a child). The hearing device users 20, 20′ areusing wearable health monitoring hearing devices 8, 8′ according to oneaspect of the disclosure.

Many health conditions go undetected and untreated, with consequencesranging from minimal to death. For example, body temperature; pulse,blood pressure, and level of oxygen and sugar in blood; skinconductance; UV exposure; sudden acceleration, and dermatologic healthcould be better monitored, and therefore abnormal levels could beaddressed.

Fever is a very prevalent clinical sign where body temperature increasesabove 38° C. Especially in children, fever is an important clinical signwith potentially severe consequences if undetected and untreated.

Pulse (tactile arterial palpation of the heartbeat), arterial bloodpressure (pressure exerted by circulating blood upon the walls of bloodvessels), level of oxygen in blood (arterial oxygen saturation offunctional hemoglobin) or level of sugar in blood (glucose levels:hyperglycemia from diabetes mellitus or hypoglycaemia) are four vitalsigns that can inform about a person's health status.

Skin conductance (galvanic skin response) is the electrical conductanceof the skin: it increases when the amount of sweat on the skinincreases. Sweat is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, soskin conductance is an indicator of psychological or physiologicalarousal and of stress.

Ultraviolet (UV) light through sun exposure affects human health: UVBradiation induces production of vitamin D in the skin. However,overexposure to UVB radiation causes some forms of skin cancer.

Sudden acceleration can be a sign of a fall, for example in the elderlyor in people prone to seizures.

Dermatologic conditions at the level of the outer ear and ear canal suchas otitis externa (external otitis or swimmer's ear), dermatitis(eczema), and psoriasis are common. Otitis externa has a prevalence ofmore than 1% over a 12-month period in the UK1. Otalgia (ear pain),otorrhea (ear discharge), and swelling are uncomfortable and caninterfere with hearing aid use, for example by causing hearing aidfeedback. The mechanisms of these conditions are varied (no infection,bacterial infection, or fungal infection).

Monitoring is possible and there is a general trend towardsself-monitoring of health status and wearable technology. For example, anational telephone survey conducted by the Pew Research Center'sInternet & American Life Project found that 69% of U.S. adults keeptrack of at least one health indicator such as weight, diet, exerciseroutine, or symptom. However, monitoring is often done only on-demand(not continuous) and from different sensors built in different devices.It would be relevant to collect self-monitoring sensors into one deviceworn continuously.

In one aspect of the disclosure, one or more parameters are detected byone or more sensors. Hereby, it is possible to monitor physiologicalstates and detect abnormal states through hearing devices and otherdevices worn at the ear 18 of a hearing device user 20, 20′. Hearingdevises may include hearing aids, cochlear implant speech processors andheadphones (used with mobile devices).

As hearing devices are worn at the ear level for many hours daily (orworn continuously, for example with deeply inserted hearing aids), theyallow for online monitoring. Monitoring of the parameters mentionedabove could be obtained in several ways.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a thermometer is integrated to thehearing device. The thermometer may be similar to the infrared earthermometers currently available on the market. Alternatively, athermosensitive coating that changes colour according to temperaturecould be used along with a) a system where the wearer or another personcan take a picture of the coating colour with a mobile device forautomated diagnosis or b) a “legend” of which colours are indicative offever, for manual comparison by the wearer or another person.

In another aspect of the disclosure, a pulse and blood pressure sensor(sphygmomanometer) and/or an oxygen in blood sensor (pulse oximeter orfunctional near-infrared spectroscopy) and/or a sugar in blood sensor(with or without using pricking) is integrated into hearing device 8,8′.

According to a further aspect of the disclosure, the hearing device 8,8′ is provided with an integrated heart rate sensor comprising anadditional hearing aid microphone in the ear canal or near the vententrance and monitoring the compliance of the middle ear usingconventional 226 Hz compliance measurement. Given the artery runningclose to the tympanic membrane, the microphone can record the beatingfrequency (pulse) as changes in the middle ear compliance.

According to an even further aspect of the disclosure, the hearingdevice 8, 8′ is provided with an integrated heart rate sensor comprisingultra-sensitive mechanical sensors configured to detect pulse on bodyparts.

Monitoring heart rate in a hearing aid can also be used as an input to ahealth and fitness application on a mobile device 48, 48′.

According to an even further embodiment of the disclosure, the hearingdevice 8, 8′ is provided with an integrated sugar level sensorconfigured to detect the sugar level in the blood by means of anelectrochemical sensor, shaped as a biochip that measures sugar by meansof a mid-infrared light sensor.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the hearing device 8,8′ is provided with a galvanic skin response sensor integrated into thehearing device 8, 8′.

According to a further embodiment of the disclosure, the hearing device8, 8′ comprises a UV exposure sensor integrated into the hearing device8, 8′.

Hereby, it would be possible for parents to determine when to providevitamin D supplements to their children or when to reapply sunscreenduring sun exposure.

According to a further aspect of the disclosure, the hearing device 8,8′ comprises an accelerometer integrated into the hearing device 8, 8′.

According to an even further aspect of the disclosure, the hearingdevice 8, 8′ comprises a pH sensor/pH sensitive-coating/printed pigmentsas a chemical sensor for bacteria integrated into the hearing device 8,8′.

Monitoring could have a range of applications, for example for screeningor diagnosis of health conditions or for monitoring of health status.For example, a person who is under post-operative care could bedischarged from the hospital earlier if wearing a monitoring deviceconnected to the hospital that could monitor e.g. changes in bloodpressure or pulse. Monitoring of the parameters mentioned in the sectionabove could either be always active (“online” or “continuous”) or onlyactive on demand. On demand could be controlled by the wearer, byanother person, or through automatised means, either directly on thehearing aid or other device worn at the ear level or at a distance(e.g., requested by the parent through a mobile device 48, 48′application for a toddler in day-care, with the option to ‘export’ thecontrolling and monitoring possibilities for a given period of time toanother mobile device 48, 48′ such as the grandparents' mobile device48, 48′).

Most applications would be digital, but some low-cost applications couldbe analogue (e.g., printed pigments as a chemical sensor for bacteria).For all applications, an automated system could store levels for displayof trends over time (“self-monitoring”), with the option to send theinformation to third parties such as health professionals 46, electronichealth records, or social media. The automated system should also beable to detect levels outside the normal range (normal range levelshould be individualised, e.g. abnormal body temperature should beage-dependent). Detection of abnormal levels should trigger automatedactions which would be specified by the wearer 8, 8′ or by anotherperson.

The hearing devices 8, 8′ may be configured to detect pulse and bloodpressure levels and inform a health professional 46 via a smartphone 48,48′ in case that the detected levels are within a predefined criticalrange.

The hearing devices 8, 8′ may be configured to detect an abnormal stresslevel in difficult listening environments triggered by an increaseddigital signal processing activity in a hearing device 8, 8′.

The hearing devices 8, 8′ may be configured to detect the sugar levelsand inform a health professional 46 via a smartphone 48, 48′ in casethat the detected levels are within a predefined critical range. Thehearing device user may be informed that an insulin dose is required.

A parent to a child 20, 20′ wearing a hearing device 8, 8′ may call ahealth professional 46 to find out if medication is required in case thechild 20, 20′ is sick. Since the hearing device 8, 8′ is provided with asensor (not shown), the hearing device 8, 8′ is capable of conducting ameasurement, e.g. of the body temperature of the child 20, 20′.Accordingly, the hearing device 8, 8′ detects the body temperature ofthe child 20, 20′ and sends the information to a health professional 46.The information may be sent via wireless data connections 14, 16, 16′and the Internet 12 by using a sending smartphone 48 and a receivingsmartphone 48′ as indicated in FIG. 10.

The temperature measurement may be conducted automatically on a regularbasis (such as once every quarter of an hour or every hour) or ondemand.

The hearing device 8, 8′ may be configured to receive an “instruction”to conduct a measurement initiated by the health professional 46 bymeans of his smartphone 48′. The smartphone 48′ of the healthprofessional 46 may e.g. display a text indicating the temperature,resting heart rate of the hearing device user 20, 20′. Accordingly, thehealth professional 46 is capable of remotely treating the hearingdevice user 20, 20′ on the basis of the measurements taken by thehearing devices 8, 8′.

The smartphones 48, 48′ may be replaces by other electronic devices(e.g. a computer or a tablet) comprising a suitable communication unit.

In an aspect, the functions may be stored on or encoded as one or moreinstructions or code on a tangible computer-readable medium. Thecomputer readable medium includes computer storage media adapted tostore a computer program comprising program codes, which when running ona processing system causes the data processing system to perform atleast some (such as a majority or all) of the steps of the methoddescribed above, in the and in the claims.

By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media cancomprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage,magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othermedium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in theform of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by acomputer. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD),laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk andBlu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, whilediscs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. Inaddition to being stored on a tangible medium, the computer program canalso be transmitted via a transmission medium such as a wired orwireless link or a network, e.g. the Internet, and loaded into a dataprocessing system for being executed at a location different from thatof the tangible medium.

As used, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to includethe plural forms as well (i.e. to have the meaning “at least one”),unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood thatthe terms “includes,” “comprises,” “including,” and/or “comprising,”when used in this specification, specify the presence of statedfeatures, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, butdo not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features,integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groupsthereof. It will also be understood that when an element is referred toas being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directlyconnected or coupled to the other element, but an intervening elementsmay also be present, unless expressly stated otherwise. Furthermore,“connected” or “coupled” as used herein may include wirelessly connectedor coupled. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and allcombinations of one or more of the associated listed items. The steps ofany disclosed method is not limited to the exact order stated herein,unless expressly stated otherwise.

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to“one embodiment” or “an embodiment” or “an aspect” or features includedas “may” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment of the disclosure. Furthermore, the particular features,structures or characteristics may be combined as suitable in one or moreembodiments of the disclosure. The previous description is provided toenable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspectsdescribed herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles definedherein may be applied to other aspects.

The claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein,but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language ofthe claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is notintended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, butrather “one or more.” Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term“some” refers to one or more.

Accordingly, the scope should be judged in terms of the claims thatfollow.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A monitoring system for monitoringparameters of hearing devices, wherein the monitoring system comprises acentral unit configured to communicate with an internet and/or cloudservice; a plurality of hearing devices worn by a plurality of users,each of said hearing devices having one or more sensors configured toperform measurements from said hearing device, and a memory configuredto store a set of measurement parameters based on said measurements,and/or store a set of performance parameters of said hearing device,wherein each of said hearing devices is configured to transmit saidstored performance and/or measurement parameters through a wirelesssignal; said monitoring system furthermore comprising a number of accesspoints configured to receive said transmitted stored performance and/ormeasurement parameters through said wireless signal transmitted by eachof said plurality of hearing devices, wherein said number of accesspoints furthermore are configured to transmit said received performanceand/or measurement parameters to said central unit, wherein said numberof access points are communicatively connected to one other, to saidplurality of hearing devices, and to said central unit via a wirelessnetwork such that each of said number of access points is configured tocommunicate via said wireless network with at least one other accesspoint of said monitoring system, and with any of said plurality ofhearing devices within a predefined range, and said performance and/ormeasurement parameters transmitted by each of said plurality of hearingdevices is relayed to said central unit through a combination of saidone or more access points dependent on the corresponding user's locationrelative to said number of access points; said central unit comprising aprocessing unit having a set of stored normal values representing eachof said one or more measurements and/or performance parameters for eachof said plurality of users, and said processing unit being configured toevaluate said received performance and/or measurements parametersrelayed from each of said plurality of hearing devices against said setof stored normal values for the corresponding one of said plurality ofusers, in order to detect a deviation from said normal value, whereinwhen a deviation is detected said processing unit triggers said centralunit to prompt an alarm to a supervisory unit of said monitoring systemand/or to transmit a notification signal directly to said hearing devicevia said personal wireless network.
 2. A monitoring system according toclaim 1, wherein said transmitted performance and/or measurementsparameters are communicated to said central unit through at least twoaccess points.
 3. A monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein saidtransmitted performance and/or measurement parameters comprises anidentification parameter, wherein said central unit is configured toreceive said identification parameter and correlate said receivedidentification parameter with a set of identification parameters storedin said central unit, so as to identify the hearing device of saidtransmitted parameters.
 4. A monitoring system according to claim 1,wherein the number of access points is configured to request a statusfrom one or more hearing devices, said request being made periodicallyand/or in response to instructions transmitted from said central unit.5. A monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the hearing devicescontinuously transmits performance and/or measurement parameters to saidaccess points, wherein said access point is configured to store saidperformance and/or measurement parameter, such that upon request fromsaid central unit, said performance and/or measurement parameters aretransmitted to said central unit.
 6. A monitoring system according toclaim 1, wherein said central unit is communicatively connected to aninternet and/or cloud service, wherein said cloud is configured to storesaid performance and/or measurement parameters transmitted to saidcentral unit through said access points, wherein said internet and/orcloud service is configured to transmit said measurement and/orperformance data to a remote location of said location of said centralunit.
 7. A monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein saidmeasurement parameters transmitted by said one or more hearing devicesincludes stored measurements of: a blood sugar value, and/or a heartrate and/or a temperature and/or an acceleration and/or a vibrationand/or a blood pressure and/or a skin conductance and/or an ultravioletlight exposure and/or a pH level and/or a bacteria level and/or ahumidity and/or an electrical activity of the brain of the hearingdevice user(s) and/or wherein said performance parameters includes aregistration of: a battery status of the hearing devices and/or asurroundings and/or a positioning.
 8. A monitoring system according toclaim 1, wherein the control unit of said monitoring system upon adetected deviation in said transmitted one or more parameters of saidone or more hearing device is configured to automatically notify anexternal device.
 9. A monitoring system according to claim 1, whereinthe monitoring system is configured as a service platform configured tobe installed in a care center environment, wherein said performanceand/or measurement parameters may be monitored for said plurality ofhearing devices at the same time through said central unit in astructured manner.
 10. A monitoring system according to claim 1, whereinsaid number of access points are configured as a plurality ofcommunication devices comprising a battery electrically connected to aprinted circuit board having an integrated transmitter unit comprising aradio unit and an antenna for transmission of wireless radio signals,and wherein said plurality of communication devices are installed in acommon facility.
 11. A monitoring system according to claim 1, whereinthe monitoring system is configured to send one or more notifications toone or more of the hearing device users.
 12. A monitoring systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the one or more access points comprises amemory for storing the transmitted performance and/or measurementparameters.
 13. A monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein theone or more sensors are arranged at least in connection with the hearingdevices and/or are in communication with one or more sensors placed on abody part of a user.
 14. A monitoring system according to claim 1,wherein a signal transmitter is arranged in connection with a firsthearing device of a particular user, and a signal sensor is arranged inconnection with a second hearing device of the particular user, whereinsaid signal transmitter is configured to transmit a signal to saidsignal sensor and said signal sensor is configured to receive a signalfrom said signal transmitter to measure magnetic and/or electricconductance in the particular user's head.
 15. A monitoring systemaccording to claim 2, wherein said transmitted performance and/ormeasurement parameters comprises an identification parameter, whereinsaid central unit is configured to receive said identification parameterand correlate said received identification parameter with a set ofidentification parameters stored in said central unit, so as to identifythe hearing device of said transmitted parameters.
 16. A monitoringsystem according to claim 2, wherein the number of access points isconfigured to request a status from one or more hearing devices, saidrequest being made periodically and/or in response to instructionstransmitted from said central unit.
 17. A monitoring system according toclaim 3, wherein the number of access points is configured to request astatus from one or more hearing devices, said request being madecontinuously and/or in response to instructions transmitted from saidcentral unit.
 18. A monitoring system according to claim 2, wherein thehearing devices continuously transmits performance and/or measurementparameters to said access points, wherein said access point isconfigured to store said performance and/or measurement parameter, suchthat upon request from said central unit, said performance and/ormeasurement parameters are transmitted to said central unit.
 19. Amonitoring system according to claim 3, wherein the hearing devicescontinuously transmits performance and/or measurement parameters to saidaccess points, wherein said access point is configured to store saidperformance and/or measurement parameter, such that upon request fromsaid central unit, said performance and/or measurement parameters aretransmitted to said central unit.
 20. A monitoring system according toclaim 4, wherein the hearing devices continuously transmits performanceand/or measurement parameters to said access points, wherein said accesspoint is configured to store said performance and/or measurementparameter, such that upon request from said central unit, saidperformance and/or measurement parameters are transmitted to saidcentral unit.
 21. A monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein atleast one of the access points is a smartphone.